


The Atlantis League

by NephilimEQ



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon Fusion, BAMF John Sheppard, BAMF Rodney McKay, Banter, Competent Rodney McKay, Complete, Crack Crossover, Fanart, Idiots that Don't Know How to Flirt, M/M, McShep - Freeform, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Trainers, Pokemon Training, Smugness All Around, discord prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24681736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NephilimEQ/pseuds/NephilimEQ
Summary: Master Pokemon Trainer Rodney McKay has no time for pointless battles with pre-teen kids who think they're actually going somewhere with their pokemon. In the Atlantis Region, you either adapt and overcome, or you get beaten by one Rodney McKay. And then John Sheppard saunters into town.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Comments: 11
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**The Atlantis League**

Rodney shoved his way past the wannabe Pokémon masters to the desk at the nurse’s station, and demanded, “Nurse Keller, I need your immediate attention. My Gyarados has a severe case of scale rot and so I need to use the specialty bath that you keep in the back. Now, if you’ll just let me--”

“You can stop right there, McKay!” she practically shouted at him. “First of all, I can’t believe you’re still using that pokéball! You know that Gyarados needs the one with extra water room,” she chastised him, her mouth firmly set and her eyes unwavering.

He rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes, I am aware of that, but I don’t think that you’re aware that, _despite_ being a Pokémon Master, I make very little money, so I can’t _really_ currently afford to upgrade, so if you could just let me into the back, then--”

She interrupted him a second time, rolling her eyes as she did, as if knowing that he was lying.

“ _Second_ of all,” she glared, “You and I both know that I don’t triage by the importance of the trainer, but by the importance of the injury. Now,” she came out from behind the counter, pointing a finger at him, “I have a team of young Houndours that are all suffering from exhaustion due to the extreme hot weather we’ve been having recently, so you can wait a few more minutes while I get them sorted out.”

She moved past him to the kids that he’d been ignoring, and he reluctantly realized that they were part of a Junior Poké-Scout troop, and he felt a slight twinge of guilt for dismissing them. It was because he was in one of those Scout troops when he was a kid that he’d decided to become the youngest Pokémon Master in the world. Which he had, of course. By thirteen, he’d already beaten twenty-five masters and had all of the gym badges, including that of the Sinnoh League, notorious for being the most difficult.

As he watched Nurse Keller kneel down and start to talk to each one, gently encouraging them to let their young Houndours out, he swallowed his pride for a moment and watched her as she worked. She certainly had a gift with people, especially kids, and it was something that he rather envied, to be honest. She managed to calm them down in a way that Rodney never could.

He had a habit, though, of taking in the injured pokémon that people shoved to the side either because they could no longer evolve any further or were regarded as useless because of their injuries.

Rodney McKay, Pokémon Master, though, felt that any pokémon, so long as they were trained properly, could take on any other kind of pokémon, no matter the level, and win. He had proved it himself.

He had taken in a horribly burned and scarred Sandslash, named Sasha, and she was one of his best fighters. He couldn’t count how many times he had walked into a ring with people jeering at him from the sidelines at the white scars on her sides and burn marks on her flanks and mangled front right leg, while he would take on a fully evolved Charizard…and then was always thrilled by the shocked silence that greeted him whenever he would win, the spectators stunned into stillness at seeing his Sandslash take on pokémon nearly a hundred times her size.

Because of his habit of taking in the injured and unwanted ones, he had become rather close with Nurse Keller, but she was dating a trainer by the name of Ronon Dex, who specialized in fighting-type pokémon, which Rodney found ridiculous. Specializing in one type of pokémon was just setting yourself up for bitter failure.

He preferred having many kinds of pokémon and was pleased with his ragtag collection of misfits and strays.

He didn’t have a massive amount (like _some_ trainers), with only thirteen, and, unlike so many other trainers, he didn’t play favorites. They all got out at regular intervals and he never pitted them against each other, and he trained them to hurt and disable, _not_ to kill, unlike some _other_ horrible trainers he could name.

His Gyarados (or his water dragon, as he affectionately called him when no one else was around), was his newest addition.

He’d recently come across him in a horrible situation that still made his skin rankle whenever he thought about it, so, Rodney had taken him in. Under his training and Nurse Keller’s magical touch, he was becoming stronger and even affectionate with him. It was obvious to Rodney that massive beast hadn’t had any proper attention from his previous owners.

He waited patiently, and then she turned back to him and said, with a reassuring smile, “Okay, now let’s get your Gyarados into an aloe bath in the back. Follow me.”

He followed her to the back, right on her heels, and was almost reluctant to hand over his poké-ball to her, but did so anyway, and watched with mounting apprehension as she popped it into the vacuum seal in the glass wall of the massive 1,000 gallon tank. A second later, he heard the seal open on the other side of the glass, and then there was his Gyarados, who immediately spun in a circle and then swam up to the glass and butted its head gently against it when Rodney put his hand on the wall.

Nurse Keller smiled.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an affectionate Gyarados, before,” she observed, arching an eyebrow at him. “How on earth did you manage that?”

Rodney shrugged, and answered, “A little bit of attention goes a long way,” and then rested his forehead to the glass, closing his eyes as he felt the large beast hum, the vibrations rumbling through the glass and he felt it in his bones. He was already feeling better.

He let out a long sigh, and then turned to her and said, “Thank you, Jennifer. How long should he stay?”

“I’d say about three days. Think you can manage staying away from him for that long?” she asked teasingly, the corner of her mouth twitching.

Rodney gave her a look, but then nodded and replied, “Yes, of course, I can. I just want him to feel better.” He lightly tapped his finger on the side of the tank. “I can use this time to get some training for Abra. He’s still a little bit skittish, so he’s gonna need some more tlc from me over the next few days.”

Gyrados gently tapped the tank and then turned so that his belly was face up, like a dog asking for belly rubs, and Rodney rolled his eyes, but then said, “I’ll be back in three days, buddy. Nurse Keller will take good care of you, and I’ll go ahead and see if I can get that updated poké-ball.”

Nurse Keller smiled and nodded at him.

“Good idea.”

He followed her back to the front, where she pulled out a few options for him, and he eventually decided to go with the most expensive one, despite it draining most of his savings, mainly because he genuinely cared about his pokémon, and wanted to make sure that he would be comfortable while in his care.

As he ran his card over the reader, deducting the credits from his account, he made small talk, asking, “So, any new trainers check in recently?”

Much to his surprise, as the Atlantis Region was sparsely populated, she answered, “Actually, yes. A man named John Sheppard came by two days ago and picked up some specialty food for his Pidgeot. Looks like he found a property just beyond the woods, up near the ridge. The Professor’s old place, remember?”

Ah, yes. Professor Zelenka.

He’d owned that property for years, and then, after discovering a new species of pokémon, he’d packed everything up, put his property up for sale, and then run off to go and do research on another continent.

But that property was a mess and practically wild. How the hell was he managing that property?

“Yes, I remember. He has a nightmare on his hands, that much is certain. I’ll give him a week,” he said with a smug grin, tucking his card back into his pocket, but she rolled her eyes at him, and as she put bandages away next to the hypo sprays, she retorted, “Actually, I’m pretty sure that he’s staying permanently. He said something about settling in and stocking up. His name sounded familiar, though,” she added as an aside, “I’m not sure why.”

She then shrugged and Rodney took that as his cue to leave, as he had no other subjects that he could think of for small talk. He _despised_ small talk.

As soon as he was outside, he glanced up towards the mountains, to the area that Zelenka’s old property sat, nestled right at the base, just above the woods. He then thought about what Jennifer had said, that the name John Sheppard sounded familiar. On an impulse, he pulled out his custom pokédex that had a private link to his home network and searched the name John Sheppard.

And he gaped at what he found.

The man was a Pokémon Master, same as him, though he seemed to win his battles with flying types, which was fairly impressive, considering they usually had a lot of different weaknesses. Rodney flicked through his information to see what gym he ran…but found no record of the man ever running a gym. What the hell? It was practically a requirement of anyone who became a master: you had to run a gym for at least a year, but according to this there was no record of Sheppard having ever run one.

He felt a flash of irritation that someone had taken the easy way out. If he could have gotten away with not having to run a gym, Rodney would have taken it in an instant. He _hated_ running the gym, but it was a necessary evil because he was expected to pass on his knowledge to the younger generation.

He glanced back up towards the property…and then shook his head and headed back to the Atlantis Gym, which he was currently calling his home.

He avoided a flock of pidgeys along the road and as soon as he stepped in through the door, his fellow associate, Evan Lorne, immediately called out, “McKay! You have someone here for a battle,” to which Rodney wheeled on him and growled out, “You can take them, can’t you? You’re a master, too, though how you ever got that title I will _never_ understand,” and Evan glared at him, unphased at his insult.

“They specifically asked for you, McKay. So, how about you shut up and deal with it?” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the main gym. “She’s in there. Her name’s Raina.”

He let out an exasperated sigh, but trudged into the gym, glancing over at the girl who came to challenge him.

She was no more than twelve years old, her black hair falling past her waist to her neon green shorts, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her matching white and neon green striped jacket bouncing along with her, framing her shockingly orange shirt underneath. She looked up at him as soon as he walked in and her eyes went wide.

Just as she opened her mouth to do something stupid, like say, “I’m here to challenge you to a pokémon battle!”, like they _all_ did, he yelled out, “Pick your opponent!”

He then whipped out the rest of his pokéballs and called out the rest of his group, except for Abra, who was still new to his group and in no condition for battle.

Rodney liked to make the new pokémon trainers think that they had the upper hand when in a battle with him by letting _them_ pick who they battled against. By doing so, he was able to prove to them that even when you thought you had complete control of your circumstances, you really didn’t. He was going to decimate her, no matter which one of his pokémon she chose.

He watched Raina’s eyes light up with excitement and she blurted out, “I get to choose who I fight?”

Unable to help himself, he snapped, “No, I said that because I was being _extremely_ sarcastic. Yes, you get to choose! Now pick one so we can get on with it.”

He saw her face fall slightly at his demeanor, but he brushed it off. He had no patience for children. She would get a proper lesson out of this, at least that much was certain. He watched as she turned her eyes to his pokémon, biting her lip as she looked them over. There was his Jolteon and Umbreon, who shared a pokéball because they had separation anxiety. Juno and Ulna, he called them. Juno had a jagged scar through his left eye and was missing a chunk of his tail, from a bad accident in a factory where they’d been using him as slave labor, and Ulna was completely blind, her milky white eyes staring aimlessly, having mysteriously lost her sight as soon as she’d evolved, and then her trainer had handed her off to Rodney for free, wanting nothing to do with her.

Raina’s eyes widened at seeing them and then skipped over to his Houndoom and Persian, Hades and Persephone, respectively. Hades had the top half of his right horn missing, a sharp edge in its’ place, and Persephone had a lightning shaped scar down her left side that went up to her left ear, where it was still partially burnt, and down to her jaw, where half of it was exposed, showing her razor sharp teeth rising from blackened, burnt gums.

The girl let out a small gasp and then looked over at his Sandslash, Sasha, who was trying to play with his Onix and Charizard, Orion and Chaos.

Orion was curling his long body around Sasha as she tried to scramble up and over his side, while Chaos had his wings tucked to his back and was sprawled out on the ground like a large cat, playfully nipping at the tip of Orion’s tail, occasionally letting out a small plume of smoke whenever Sasha got too close. Orion had several parts of his body split open to reveal geodes, from where someone had tried to harvest him, which _really_ got Rodney’s blood boiling. Chaos had a long, terrible acid burn down his neck and stomach, from where someone had nearly killed him in battle, and then the trainer had left him for dead at the edge of the desert.

Raina looked curiously at Orion, like everyone always did when they saw the shock of cobalt blue and violet crystals erupting from his side, but then her gaze slid over to his Arbok, Scyther, and Dragonair. Arbok (Aster, he called her) was preening at her scales, though a large section of them were blanched a sickly whitish-red, from where the man who owned her had routinely taken out her scales to make powders for fake healing elixirs.

Scyther, or Scylla as he called her, was half asleep, her green head resting on top of her claws, her one leg resting behind her. She’d lost her right leg in a battle with another Scyther, and her trainer had decided that she was now useless. Rodney knew otherwise, of course. Even with one leg, she was a deadly force to be reckoned with. Dragonair was beside her, his head resting on top of her back. Rodney had named him Dagon. He was missing both of his head-wings, only small scars left behind because some _imbecile_ had decided that they would make a good ornament for his wall.

Rodney watched as Raina looked over them all, and then she finally pointed and said firmly with that stupid, childish, undeserved confidence, “I want to fight your Sandslash!”

Oh, boy. She had obviously never seen Sasha fight. Poor kid. It was already over before it had even started…and she didn’t know it.

He clicked twice with his tongue and all the rest of his pokémon went back into their places in their pokéballs, while Sasha stayed out. She knew that she’d been picked; she was one of the smart ones, after all, Rodney reminded himself as she walked up to him and gently butted her head against his thigh. He reached down and rubbed his fingers over her burnt scalar armor.

“Okay, Sasha. You know what to do.”

She chirruped and moved so that she was three feet in front of him.

Raina picked up her pokéball and then threw a pose as she yelled out, “Raichu, I choose you!” and tossed it with all of her might, while Rodney rolled his eyes. A twelve-year-old with a Raichu? Well, _this_ was going to be a faster battle than even _he’d_ anticipated.

Evan stood to the side, refereeing, and he put his arm in the air as he called out the rules.

“There will be three rounds! No healing allowed, and your pokémon must remain three feet or more in front of you at all times.” Raina’s eyes went wide at that. “No killing attacks allowed. When I drop my hand, the battle will begin!” he shouted, but then Raina yelled back at him, “Wait! Who goes first? There has to be a coin toss or something!”

Rodney snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Not in my gym. We don’t take turns, we simply attack as quickly as possible. Evan, can we get on with this please?” he whined, giving him a look, but just before he could drop his hand, the girl complained, “But that’s not fair!”

He gave her a look and drawled, “Oh, please! Like anything in life is fair? Either you know your pokémon, or you don’t! Evan!!”

Evan gave him a slightly chastising glare, but then answered him with a short nod. He dropped his hand.

\--

“You couldn’t have been a _little_ bit easier on her, McKay?” Lorne asked him as they walked down the hall to the apartments attached in the back, Rodney sharing pieces of his sandwich with Sasha as they did. “I mean, she was practically crying when she left. You could have been a bit nicer.”

Rodney rolled his eyes and replied, “If I’d been nice to her that would have set up a horrible precedent and I would get even _more_ wannabes showing up at my gym. I have exactly three months left,” he explained, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a water bottle and pouring it into Sasha’s water bowl on the floor, “And I have managed to get through the last nine months with only _six_ idiots challenging me. Not a single one of them has even come _close_ to beating me, I might add.”

Evan rolled his eyes right back at him, but then said reluctantly, as he adjusted his Vaporeon in his grip, “Okay, you might have a point.”

Rodney’s smug grin got even wider, and then he incongruently thought of John Sheppard, and couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, Lorne, do you know of a Master Trainer named John Sheppard?”

At the name, Evan’s eyes shot up, distracting him from where he’d been popping a blueberry into his Vaporeon’s mouth.

“Uh, yeah. I trained under him for a while, actually. Why do you ask?”

He shrugged and casually explained, “Oh, Nurse Keller mentioned that he’d stopped by the clinic to pick up some specialty food for his Pidgeot and that he purchased Zelenka’s old property, up at the base of the mountain. Do you know why he’s never run a gym?”

Evan put his Vaporeon down and nodded and said, “Uh, yeah, I do, actually. He doesn’t use pokéballs. In fact, he’s never captured _any_ pokémon,” and at that, Rodney spit out the sip of water he’d been taking from his own water bottle and looked at his partner in shock and eloquently got out, “How the hell is he a master, then?! That makes no sense!”

Evan gave him another look and then shrugged and admitted, “To be honest, I don’t know. He would show up at the gym where I trained and would bring a different pokémon with him every week. He’d train with us for about twelve hours a day and then leave. I never really asked about it, and most of us didn’t care because he was just so good but was also really nice about it. I mean,” he laughed, “None of us ever beat him. He’s got a perfect record, too, you know.” He lifted his Vaporeon to his shoulders and she draped herself lovingly around his neck. “He could do things with flying pokémon that most of us didn’t think were even possible.”

Rodney chewed on that information running it around in his head, and then got distracted as Sasha lovingly nipped at his leg, trying to get his attention once more. He reached down and patted her on her head and murmured, “Hey, girl. Sorry about that. C’mon, let’s get everyone else out, too.”

He wandered back to his own separate apartment that had access to the massive outside space, and then let them all out.

Orion immediately went to the river, along with Dagon, and the rest of them found places either out in the open or under the trees to stretch out and lounge.

Abra was still hesitant, however, so Rodney tucked her into his arm and said to her, “Don’t worry, girl. You’ll get used to them, I promise,” and went and sat on the back porch, keeping an eye out on everyone else. Hades eventually wandered back over to him and laid down at his feet. Well, on _top_ of his feet was a more accurate description.

Rodney didn’t mind.

\--

Three days later, he was back at the clinic, and was pleased to see that it was devoid of children. Oh, thank god.

As he walked to the front desk, Nurse Keller appeared and said, “Hey, McKay! Here for Gyarados?” and he nodded and replied, “Yep. I’ve been missing him pretty bad, and so has Orion,” he admitted, and she smiled at him and tilted her head.

“Your Onix and Gyrados get along?” she asked rhetorically. “Now that’s adorable.”

He shrugged and said, “They like swimming together,” adjusting his grip on Abra, who he’d been keeping out of her pokéball for the time being, getting her used to the outside world once more. She had been kept by her previous owners in her pokéball for _weeks_ at a time. He’d been furious at the couple and had nearly told Scylla to slice them up into pieces so he could feed them to his Gyrados…but he’d refrained.

As he followed Jennifer back to the tank, she cast a glance at Abra in his arms and said, “So, how’s she doing? Adjusting okay?”

“More or less,” he said softly, as Abra was nearly asleep, her eyes drifting as she snuggled closer to his chest. “I’ve been keeping her distance from the other pokémon for the time being, but she seems to like Sasha well enough. I figure as much time out of her pokéball is probably best for her. Lots of fresh air and sunshine, you know?”

She smiled at him and nodded her approval as she said, “I firmly agree with that assessment. Nothing better for a little Abra than plenty of air and sunshine!”

They arrived at the tank and then Gyarados suddenly swam up to the tank wall and Rodney could tell he was about to let out a loud howl of excitement, so he quickly held up his free hand and pointed at Abra in his arm and said in a voice just above a hushed whisper, “Hey, I got a little one, here! Can you be quiet?” Gyarados immediately closed his mouth and wriggled instead, showing him just how happy he was to see him, and Rodney smiled.

He was taken aback, however, when Nurse Keller said, “I have _never_ seen a Gyarados trained so well. How do you do it?”

Not sure how to answer, he rubbed the back of his neck and admitted, “Honestly, I don’t know. Ever since I rescued him from that horrible seaside attraction, he’s just sort of clung to me like a big puppy. They’re a lot smarter than people think,” he said, and Jennifer nodded.

She then pointed at the deep divots in his Gyarados’ side, the ones that ran all the way down both of his sides and across his face, leaving behind vivid white scars.

“Did he get those from them?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Yeah. Horrible place,” he explained. “They had him in a tank that he could barely fit in and they had him jumping through hoops by using electric trident prods,” he pointed at the scars. “I’d heard about him from some local trainers and knew that I had to get him out of there, so I did. I had Dagon calm him down and then had Juno go after the owners.”

His face darkened as he remembered those people and Jennifer’s eyes went wide as she gulped and said, “Uh…go after the owners? Uh, you didn’t--”

“Kill them? No,” he quickly reassured her. “Just made them understand that they should never go near another pokémon again as long as they lived or else I would hunt them down and make them regret it.”

She nodded.

“Fair enough. Now,” she placed his new pokéball back into the chamber attached to the glass wall and tapped it. Light flashed and the chamber sealed back up. “Here’s your Gyarados! I don’t want to see you back here anytime soon, now, you hear?” she said with a mock scowl, but Rodney knew what she meant. No more injured pokémon. Understood.

“Okay, then. See you, Jennifer,” he said over his shoulder as he walked out, Abra completely asleep in the crook of his right arm.

He headed back to his apartment, dropped them off out back, knowing none of them would leave, and then stopped by the main gym, watching as Evan battled a young fifteen-year-old punk kid, who looked like he’d watched one too many ninja movies, wearing a black karate style outfit, with a bright red belt and headband, and he was barefoot. Evan stood there in his jeans and sweater, almost looking bored as he had his Beedrill out and was making it hell for the kid, who had stupidly picked a Butterfree to fight him with.

Rodney snorted when the Beedrill easily evaded the Butterfree’s attack and then took it out with a single hit. The kid looked crushed as he walked forward and retrieved his Butterfree and Rodney smirked when Lorne said, “Better luck next time, kid. Nice try, though.”

The kid glared at him and yelled out petulantly, “Next time, I’m decimating you!”

He practically ran from the gym and Rodney slow clapped as Evan walked off the raised mat and ignored the way he rolled his eyes at him.

“Nicely done, Lorne. I thought _I_ was the only one who made the kids cry,” he quipped, and saw a faint smile at the corner of the younger trainer’s mouth. “I mean, that was a beautiful play! Also, what kind of kid thinks of using a Butterfree against a Beedrill?”

Evan shrugged and zapped his pokémon back into its ball and said, “I don’t know. An overly cocky one? Now, this was my second battle today, so I’m gonna go wash up while I can. I have two more this afternoon,” he complained, and Rodney couldn’t help but say to his retreating back, “That’s what you get for being so popular, Lorne!”

Feeling slightly smug and in a good mood, Rodney decided that an afternoon walk was in order.

He left the gym and soon found himself heading up towards Zelenka’s old property, and he decided what the hell. Might as well introduce himself to the enigmatic John Sheppard, the Master Trainer who didn’t use pokéballs and had never had to run a gym.

It was a bit of a hike, but it the pull felt good on his calf muscles as he scaled the ever-increasing clime to the house. He used to go there fairly regularly when Radek had lived there, helping him with some of his research on pokémon, which, he reluctantly admitted to himself, was pretty interesting and fairly compelling. He wouldn’t consider the two of them friends, but they were certainly colleagues, and that was more than friendly enough for him.

The A-frame house came into the view, the wrap-around porch a familiar sight, and then Rodney was taken aback when he saw a large Tauros in the yard, grazing next to a Rapidash, and there was a Mightyena sleeping on the porch, it’s massive, bushy tail hanging over the edge, nearly reaching the ground. Huh. He thought the man specialized in flying pokémon.

“Uh…hello?” he tentatively called out. “Anyone home?”

He heard heavy footsteps on the porch and strained his eyes and saw a man with long arms and legs and a shock of messy, dark brown hair enter his vision, just beyond the Mightyena.

“Can I help you?”

God, everything about the man seemed to be lazy. The way he walked with long, in-no-hurry strides, the way he tucked his hands into his pockets of his cargo pants, and then when he dropped off the edge of the porch with an easy jump, gently tugging at his pooch’s tail as he did so, Rodney wanted to roll his eyes. Instead, he managed to refrain, and nodded.

“Yes, you can. I’m assuming that you’re John Sheppard?” he asked, trying to be as polite as possible, not wanting to make an enemy of the man. He still hadn’t seen all of the pokémon on his property, and just these three made him nervous, especially the Tauros.

Sheppard approached him and held out a hand and Rodney shook it, and Sheppard said, “That I am. What brings you by?” he asked as he turned and ran a hand over the Rapidash’s shoulder, sneaking them a piece of apple from his pocket, and then eating the rest of the piece himself, while Rodney shook his head.

Finally, Rodney said, “I was told that you’re new to the area, so I thought I would introduce myself. I’m Rodney McKay, head of the--”

“--Atlantis Gym,” John finished for him, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve heard of you. I have a friend that helps run that place, I’m pretty sure that you know him. Evan Lorne?” Rodney nodded and John continued. “Yeah, I hear the main Atlantis gym is one of the best gyms in the world. From what I hear, you’re still unbeaten. Perfect record. That’s pretty impressive.”

Rodney preened under the praise, unable to help himself. It was gratifying to know that he was becoming recognized for his accomplishments in even more areas than before.

He tucked his hands into his pockets and inquired, “So…how long are you planning on staying?”

“Permanently,” he said succinctly, and to Rodney it almost felt like a brush off. But then in a softer tone, John said, “I mean, I’m hoping that it’s going to be permanent. I usually end up rubbing the locals the wrong way and end up getting run out of town for my ‘unorthodox’ methods.”

Rodney could hear the air quotes around the word, and he tilted his head and asked, “Is it true that you don’t capture pokémon? That you don’t use pokéballs?”

John nodded.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he replied, reaching over and patting his Tauros’ side, humming to the beast under his breath, and Rodney watched as the creature leaned into his touch and he was suddenly reminded of his own pokémon and he felt himself relax a little bit more. Maybe the two of them weren’t so different after all. He then said, “They mostly find me, actually. I just give them a place to stay if they want, and patch them up if they’re hurt, and then let them back out into the wild. They mostly come and go as they please.”

Rodney raised an eyebrow at that, realizing that the two of them were more similar than he was expecting. But just as he was about to say something about it, he was nearly knocked off his feet by a large gust of wind that came up out of nowhere. He threw his hands up to block whatever was coming at him, and then heard John laughing.

He looked up and saw a large Talonflame, the largest he’d ever seen, sitting to the man’s left side, reaching over and running its beak through John’s hair.

“Hey, Theo, stop it! You keep doing that, and I’m not going to have any more hair, you idiot,” he said lovingly, digging his fingers into the bird’s feathers. “Now, c’mon. This is Rodney,” he said, pointing him towards him. “He’s here to say hi to us, so how about you show some manners?”

Theo flapped his wings once, and Rodney felt himself slide back a full three meters, and John chastised him.

“Theo, be _nice._ ”

He cawed once, very loudly, and then nudged John a second time, nearly throwing him off his own feet, while he shoved right back at his pokémon, which didn’t move in the slightest, but Rodney found it rather endearing as they jostled for a few moments, and then felt his jaw nearly unhinge when the man suddenly slid onto Theo’s back and said, “Okay, up!”

And then Rodney was thrown to his ass, as the backdraft of him taking off threw him to the ground. He stared as they flew off, circling above the clearing around the house, and then, from where he was on his back spread out on the grass, he watched in shock as an equally large Pidgeot joined him in the air, circling right under him, and then a Staraptor joined, as well, and Rodney was pretty sure that his jaw was no longer attached to his face, completely taken aback at seeing three different flying pokémon, all of them predators, not attacking or going after each other, but circling in perfect accordance.

After a few minutes of this, John came back down and slid off Theo’s back and then introduced the other two as they landed on either side.

Rodney got to his feet just as John said, “This Pidgeot, here, is Paul, and this idiot over here,” he playfully tugged on a tail feather, “Is Scott.”

Rodney stared at him and his awe was quickly replaced with an arched eyebrow and him saying incredulously, “Paul and Scott? Please tell me you’re joking. Don’t tell me those are their real names,” and John shrugged and replied, “Sorry, those are their names. Easy to remember, and they seem to like them okay.”

He rolled his eyes.

John then said to his pokémon, “Okay, boys, off you go, get some dinner,” and with that, they took off, and Rodney had to brace himself to keep from falling over a second time.

He stared as they took off, and then asked, “God, how the hell do you keep them under control without any pokéballs? They’re completely wild!”, but John just grinned and clapped him on the shoulder and said with a smirk, “I know, that’s what I like about them. I don’t really believe in trying to restrain them. They deserve to be free, you know?”

He walked back up to the porch, gesturing for Rodney to follow him, so Rodney did, staying close behind, and skipped to the side as the Mightyena reached out and playfully nipped at his heels.

John gently chastised, “Mattie, stop it, be nice,” and Rodney scoffed and snarked, “Mattie? Seriously? Do you name all of them like that?” and John nodded and replied, “Like I said before, they’re easy to remember and they all seem to like them just fine. Now, come on inside and I’ll serve us up some lunch. You like chicken?”

“Yeah, chicken is fine. Just, no citrus,” he quickly said. “I’m highly allergic.”

“No problem.”

As soon as they walked into the house, Rodney suddenly found himself on his back once more as a massively large Arcanine pinned him to the floor and began to lick his face and chest. Correction: as he licked _everywhere._ He struggled to get up and was thoroughly annoyed when he heard Sheppard laughing at him from the other side of the room.

“Oh, yeah, laugh it up, why don’t you,” he snipped out, still trying to avoid the slobbering tongue, but with no real effect. “Just let me get licked to death by your animal, here.”

Taking pity on him, he heard John say, “Alex, off of him. C’mon now, girl, let him up,” and the beast slowly removed herself, though whining the entire time, as if disappointed that she was no longer allowed to keep doing what she had been enjoying.

Rodney looked down at himself.

“Oh, ew, God, I need a shower after that,” he groused out, and John said, sounding completely sincere, “You can use mine.” He jabbed his thumb towards bathroom door. “Blue towels are all yours, and I can wash and dry your clothes in a jiffy, if you don’t mind borrowing some of mine.”

He thought about saying no, but then nodded and decided it was better if he got cleaned up, as being stuck in clothes covered in Arcanine slobber was not appealing to him in the least. He made his way to the bathroom, stripped them off, and then shoved them through the small laundry chute in the wall. He remembered it because Zelenka’s studies had him usually ending up in the man’s bathroom, having to shuck all of his clothes because of some experiment gone awry.

As soon as he was out of the shower, he found a pair of sweatpants and a gray t-shirt on the counter, next to the sink.

He changed and wandered out and said, “For a Master who’s known for his skill with flying pokémon, it’s interesting how many others that you have. I mean, I’m not complaining,” Rodney quickly said. “I’m actually glad that you don’t limit yourself to one type. I think everyone should know how to handle any pokémon they come across.”

John looked up from where he was cooking and nodded.

“Agreed. I like them all, I just like the flying ones because they can get me up in the air,” he admitted with a wry grin, and Rodney honestly couldn’t fault him for that. Who _didn’t_ want to be up there with them? Sure, he had a slight fear of heights, but just from seeing how well Sheppard had managed that massive Talonflame, he had a hunch that he was probably quite good at managing any flying-type, knowing that they were particularly difficult to train.

They started chatting back and forth, and that was when Rodney discovered that the man knew Ronon.

“You know Ronon? How the heck do you know him?” he asked, taking a large bite of the chicken salad sandwich that John had made for him, and John rolled his eyes as he chewed and answered, “He and I met up in the Satedan region, years ago. He was just starting out and met me, and I ended up helping him with a few battles. And let’s just say he’s never let me forget it.”

He took a bite of his own lunch and then asked, while still chewing, “You wouldn’t happen to know Teyla Emmeagan, would you?” and Rodney just about choked on his bite. How the hell did they know all the same people but had never met before?

He swallowed and answered, “The woman who specializes in psychic types? Yes, I am _very_ familiar with her work. Actually,” he added, putting his fork down and reaching for his water, “She’s the one who found me my Abra. Sweet little thing,” he said with a faint smile. “But she was kept in her pokéball for weeks at a time, so she’s a little bit shy. I’m thinking of naming her Ari.”

John looked up at that, his eyebrow shooting high on his forehead as he said, “Weeks? Who the hell is that cruel?”

Rodney’s eyes darkened.

“Oh, don’t worry, Teyla took care of them. Her and her Espeon and Alakazam are a formidable team, that’s for sure,” he replied, giving John a look in return and the man tilted his head and said, “Fair enough. I’ve seen Teyla pissed-off. She’s scarier than Ronon,” and Rodney hummed in agreement.

They finished lunch and went back outside, where John asked him, as he sat down and ran his fingers through Mattie’s fur, “So, where’re your pokémon?”

He waved a hand and said lightly, “Oh, it’s their day off. I let them roam on the property for the day and Evan checks in on them for me if I can’t be there.” He yawned and then sat down on the other side of Mattie, lightly patting his back. “He’s the one who gets most of the battles, so, I have a lot more free-time. I’m not big on battling anymore,” Rodney confessed. “I prefer helping pokémon as best I can. I take in the ones that everyone else abandons.”

John looked over at him, ignoring his Tauros that had walked up to the porch and was nudging his knee with his nose, and remarked in that drawl of his, “That’s a noble cause,” and Rodney shrugged.

“I guess, but I do it because I hate trainers who think that pokémon are nothing but animals and that they can use, abuse, or discard them as they see fit. It makes me sick to my stomach and also makes me see red,” he said, glancing over at the Tauros and then looking up when he heard a series of loud cries and saw the Pidgeot and Talonflame tussling in the air above them.

John saw his stare and quickly explained, “They like doing that. Keeps them in good practice for battles,” he pointed, and then added under his breath, “And it also keeps them out of trouble with the rest of the local flying pokémon.”

Rodney chuckled and rubbed Mattie’s fur, absently realizing that John must really care for his pokémon because he couldn’t help but notice how thick and silky the Mightyena’s fur was.

They were quiet for a moment, and then Rodney felt the awkwardness, so he dropped off the edge of the porch and said, “So, uh…nice meeting you. See you around?”

John nodded.

“Definitely. You don’t mind if I come by tomorrow, do you? Check out the gym, meet your pokémon, that kind of thing?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, and Rodney let out an internal sigh of relief, glad that he’d made a good enough impression that the man wanted to come and visit. Thank god. He usually scared people off with his horrible manners.

“That’d be great. See you then?”

John gave him a look…and then nodded a second time.

“Count on it.”

\--

The next day, Rodney was restocking the bandages with one arm, while he carried Abra in the other, just after lunch, when he heard Lorne talking to someone out in the hallway, laughing and joking, and then he recognized the voice that carried alongside his as belonging to John Sheppard. Oh. So, he really _had_ decided to come by.

After not seeing him all morning, he had assumed that John had changed his mind. A little bitter about it, he’d decided to hide himself in the back rooms.

“You and Rodney McKay as partners, huh? Does he drive you nuts?” he heard John ask just as the two of them walked through the doors, and before Lorne could answer, Rodney turned and answered for him, “Actually, it’s usually the other way around. Lorne’s perpetual upbeat attitude is annoying, to say the least,” and Evan snorted and rolled his eyes just Rodney added, “Also, we’re not partners: I’m his boss. My gym was too big to handle alone, so I hired an employee. Boss,” he pointed at himself. “Employee.” He pointed at Evan.

Lorne gave him a look and then said, “Well, nice catching up with you, John. See you around?”

John smiled at him and nodded.

“Sure, sounds good.”

Lorne left the room and then John turned to Rodney and noticed the Abra tucked into his arm and said, “I take it this is Ari?” and Rodney smiled fondly down at her, where she was, yet again, half asleep.

“This is the little one. She’s still not comfortable around my group, so I keep her with me most of the day,” he explained, adjusting his grip slightly, and then tried to hide an amused smile when John grinned at seeing the little one all curled up, her tail tucked around her stomach, one of her claws curled around his bicep.

He let John marvel for a moment longer and then said, “Hey, you wanna see the rest?” and John nodded.

He followed him back to his apartment and to the wide linai where it opened out onto the back acres.

Rodney felt a brief flash of smug satisfaction at seeing John’s eyes widen at seeing the property. It had taken him several months of terraforming, using Orion and Scylla, for the rocks and shrubs, respectively. The two of them had been a huge help, Orion digging out the riverbed and Scylla clearing the rough and wiry underbrush so that there were plenty of places for his pokémon to hide and burrow and get away from the direct rays of the sun.

John stepped out onto the grass, his eyes immediately going over to Rodney’s Onix, like everyone’s eyes always did, and then he asked, “What happened to him?”

“Some iron miners decided to use him as supplies,” Rodney bit out, trying not to get too upset, not wanting to disturb Ari in his arms, and he heard John hiss and saw his jaw tighten, and he knew that the man was just as upset as Rodney was.

As he stood there, both Persephone and Hades approached him, and John’s hand went to Hades’ broken horn, running his fingers over it, and before he could ask, Rodney said, “Used as a bait Houndoom in illegal Hound fights. It’ll never grow back,” he admitted reluctantly. “I did my best, but…”

His voice drifted, but John seemed to understand. Persephone growled at not receiving any attention and gently nipped at his other hand and Rodney watched as John chuckled and dug his fingers behind her good ear and she purred under his touch as Hades walked away and headed back to the shade of the trees, as he was more nocturnal than any of his other pokémon. Persephone, however, proceeded to shove John to the ground and lay on top of his legs, leaning into his body and Rodney walked over and joined them on the grass.

“Looks like Persephone has taken a liking to you,” he commented. “She is a bit of a lap cat. Good luck getting her off your legs.”

John shot him a faint grin and replied, “Yeah, well, I don’t mind. She’s a sweetheart,” he said, running his fingers down her scarred side, tracing over it lightly. “This looks like the leftovers of an incredibly high-voltage lightning attack.” He gently touched her mangled ear. “Lemme guess…a wild Pikachu?” Rodney nodded. “Poor girl.”

Rodney heard a shuffling off to the side and looked to his left and let out a small sigh as he saw Ulna and Juno making their way over, Ulna leaning into Juno’s side, using her as her eyes.

Honestly, he wasn’t all that surprised; his Umbreon and Jolteon had taken a liking to Persephone when he’d brought her home, and he could usually find them all curled up in a pile outside near the river in the late afternoon, basking in the sunlight.

Without hesitation, they also clambered into John’s lap, settling to either side of Persephone, their heads on her back, and he looked down at them, incredulous, and then looked over at Rodney and grinned.

“Looks like you have a whole pride of cats, McKay. What gives? You like the cat types?” and Rodney attempted to laugh it off, but then admitted, “Well…yeah, I do. I like their personalities. They don’t slobber all over you, they’re pretty independent, and they’re the smartest ones I own. Plus,” he added, reaching over with his free hand and scratching behind Juno’s stiff back plate, “They’re cute as hell, don’t you think?” and John snorted and rolled his eyes, but then nodded.

“Okay, yeah, they’re cute as hell…but also _heavy,_ ” he complained trying to shift his legs, obviously trying to make himself more comfortable, and Rodney smirked.

“Nothing but muscle, these three,” he said proudly. “They’re some of my best fighters. Hell, they’re _all_ good fighters,” he commented, gesturing broadly to the rest of his pokémon.

John smiled and then looked curiously down at Ulna and asked softly, as all three of them started to fall asleep on top of him, “She’s blind. How’d that happen?” and Rodney shook his head

“Honestly, her owner had no idea, but he didn’t want her anymore. He evolved her from an Evee, but when he did, she was blind and he didn’t know why, so he decided she was useless.” Rodney reached over and rubbed just under her chin. “She’s got excellent hearing, though, and can always hear what direction her opponent is attacking from. She’s a fighter, that one.”

John hummed and then tilted his head at Juno.

He then said, “I recognize those marks, unfortunately,” and lightly ran his hand down his plated and scaled back. “What region’s factory did you save him from? Kanto Region?” Rodney nodded and John grimaced and said, “God, I hate those places. They just use pokémon for selfish means and it makes me sick. Boy am I glad that people like Professor Weir are there to keep those sickos out of business,” he added with a glance at Rodney. “She runs the pokémon refuge center in the Kanto Region. Smart woman. You’d probably like her.”

Rodney recognized the name and wracked his brain, and then realized that he’d read several of her papers and he gave John a quick nod.

“You mean Dr. Elizabeth Weir? Yeah, I’ve read a few of her research papers. Good researcher, but an even better advocate.”

John agreed.

“Definitely. I hear she and Dr. Zelenka are working on a new paper together regarding the preservation of newly discovered species,” he remarked, and suddenly Rodney felt out of the loop, which was not a feeling that he was used to having. In fact, it was the exact opposite of what he was used to.

He swallowed and nodded, drawing his eyes away, trying to pretend that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

He licked his lips and was about to say something, when John suddenly gasped and pointed over to the river and exclaimed quietly, still trying to keep from disturbing the now sleeping pokémon on his lap, “Hold up…you have a Dragonair and Arbok? And they get along?”

Rodney looked at what he was pointing at and couldn’t help but chuckle. He was used to the sight, but he guessed anyone who didn’t know his pokémon was rather startled when they saw the two opposing types curled and wrapped up around each other in a sinuous pile, Dagon’s tapered nose nuzzling gently into Aster’s large form, their purple and blue colors bright against the gray of the large rock that they were resting on next to the river.

“Yeah. That’s Aster and Dagon,” he told John. “When Dagon’s done in the water, he likes to curl up with Aster in the sun. They’re best friends, actually.”

John shot him a wide grin and explained, “I have a Dragonair, myself, but she’s the most territorial creature you’ve ever met. Gets annoyed if you even _touch_ the same water she’s in,” and Rodney laughed at that, absently running his fingers over Abra’s small claw that dug into his arm.

“Yeah, they usually are, but Dagon likes the company,” he said, and then he saw John’s eyes widen in comprehension when he finally noticed the missing white wings on the sides of Dagon’s head.

He then breathed out, “Who the hell did that to him?”

Rodney darkly smiled.

“An idiotic trophy hunter. Let’s just say that he got what was coming to him,” and John acknowledged him with a similar look, and then narrowed his gaze onto Sasha, who was peeking out of the underbrush and wandering in their general direction.

“Wow,” Sheppard breathed out at seeing her scars. “What happened to _her?”_

Rodney felt a small spark of respect at hearing him gender her correctly. It was difficult to tell the differences in gender with Sandslash, but it seemed he was well-educated and had a solid eye for noticing the differences, even at a distance.

“I don’t normally talk about it, but then again…” He paused and took a deep breath. “She was part of a group of Sandslashes in the wild, and some team working for a man named Giovanni decided to try and capture them all at once using an electrified wire net. The edge of the net caught on her back scales and front leg…and the team decided to cut their losses and use a flamethrower to cut her loose…and then left her there to die while they hauled off the rest. They took away her family at the same time they destroyed her leg.”

He fell silent and then John said, “I think I know which team you’re talking about. Domino and Vicious from Team Rocket, right?” Rodney nodded. “God, I _hate_ those guys. They don’t care if there are innocent casualties, so long as they get what they came for.” John took a breath and then finished with, “I’m sorry. Poor girl…”

Rodney chewed on the inside of his lip. He hadn’t told him everything.

He hadn’t told John that he’d been there when it had happened, and that he had a matching scar along his back and across the backs of his thighs. There was a reason that he never wore shorts.

He looked at John’s profile and felt a small smile twitch at the corner of his mouth at seeing him being so softly affectionate with his pokémon. Most people were skittish around his pokémon because of their conditions, but John seemed perfectly okay with it.

Curious, and overly blunt, as he usually was, he asked, “How come you’re not freaked out? Most people look away when they see my pokémon. Or they stare far too much,” he countered.

John shrugged.

“I guess it’s because my first pokémon was a Pidgey with a broken wing,” he said. “I rescued him when I was nine, from the wild, from some idiot kid who’d tried to catch him in a pokéball and missed. My dad got all mad at me, but my mom helped me patch him up, only for us to find out that he’d never really fly again. My dad wanted to send him off to some center, but I didn’t wannna give up on him, so I took him back out to the woods and cared for him in secret. And then, one day, two Pidgeottos showed up and I realized that they were his parents, so I handed him to them. They put him on their back and then took off, and it was the best feeling in the world, seeing a pokémon free in its own habitat. I decided I wanted to keep doing that, and never capture a pokémon so long as I lived.”

Rodney smiled wide at that. “Okay, so that’s a pretty damn good reason. I can understand why you don’t like pokéballs.”

John shrugged a second time, curling his finger around Persephone’s tail, and said, “When used for necessary medical needs, I fully support them as forms of medical transport, but for anything other than that, I just…can’t.”

They went quiet for a while, enjoying each other’s company, listening to Orion and Gyrados in the river, playfully splashing each other and most likely getting water on Dagon and Aster.

And then Abra shifted in his arms and let out a small chirrup, and Rodney knew that she was hungry.

“Hey, guys,” Rodney said to the cats lounging on John’s legs. “Let him up. I need him for a minute, okay?”

He saw John’s look of amusement as they took their time getting to their feet, stretching and shaking, giving him annoyed sideways glances before they sauntered off to join Dagon and Aster on the rocks next to the river. Rodney stood up with Ari, and then smiled when Sasha wandered over and decided to join them for lunch.

John commented, “They’re less like pokémon and more like family, aren’t they?”

Rodney snorted.

“Yeah, except their food bill is a lot higher,” he snarked, and Sasha butted him in the back of the thigh, as if offended and Rodney heard John laugh and saw him throw his head back as he said, “It’s like they understand everything you say,” and Rodney rolled his eyes and sighed out, “Unfortunately…”

As soon as they were back inside, he wandered over to the kitchen and kicked open the pantry door, reaching up and grabbing Abra’s custom food. Sasha shuffled at his feet and nosed her way into the large bin of generic pokémon food on the floor, and he softly chastised her with, “Hey, wait until I get your bowl,” to which she responded by chirping and reaching up with one claw and pulling down her metal bowl, which clattered to the floor, and Rodney rolled his eyes.

“Hey, John,” he asked, sounding very put upon, “Can you feed Sasha while I deal with this little one, here?”

“Sure, not a problem.”

Rodney used his hand to grab some of the mix of soft and hard food, and then gently roused Ari with a soft squeeze, and she blinked her eyes open, and then let out a soft, “A-bra,” and Rodney smiled down at her and gave her a soft nudge with the food in his hand and she roused the rest of the way and reached out with a clawed hand to pull the hand with the food closer to her, and then took a small bit and he smiled some more, pleased to see that she had a decent appetite.

John looked up from where he was kneeling down on the floor next to Sasha, running his hands over her spines, and said, “God, she’s cute,” obviously talking about his Abra, and Rodney couldn’t help but grin.

“That she is.”

They fed the pokémon and Rodney grimaced when Ari coughed slightly and spit up a little on his arm.

“Oh, delightful,” he drawled out and John rolled his eyes and said, “Par for the course, McKay. Now,” he stood up. “What’s a typical afternoon like around the Atlantis Gym?” he asked., and Rodney shrugged and admitted, “Uh, actually, I’m not really sure. I’m not usually here in the afternoon. Lorne gets a lot of challengers, so I tend to be off somewhere else in the region, sometimes picking up supplies, other times just killing time with either Sasha or one of the others.” He adjusted her in his arms and dabbed off the food on his arm. “Wanna take a walk?”

John nodded and they went on a walk around the gym, along the long angular hallways, Sasha staying close to him the entire time.

“So, you don’t get a lot of challengers, huh?” John asked, glancing up at the artwork on the walls.

“Yes, and I prefer it that way,” he answered in a clipped tone. “Most people know by now that it’s useless in battling me unless they want a lesson in humiliation. Besides,” he added, stopping as they approached the ring, where Evan was in the middle of a battle with some thirteen-year-old girl, “I’m undefeated and that usually deters the most determined challengers. If that doesn’t do it, then usually my personality does the rest.”

John made a sound in the back of his throat and said, “I can see how that would work,” and Rodney rolled his eyes at him.

They watched as Lorne used his Growlithe’s agility to dodge the Ekans’ weak attack, and then the battle was over when he used crunch to take the Ekans out in the middle.

“He hasn’t evolved it?” John asked, pointing at the young Growlithe, and Rodney explained, “She actually _can’t_ evolve. Swallowed an Everstone five years ago, so she’ll always be exactly the way she is. But Evan’s done a hell of a good job with her. She wins every five out of six battles. Solid fighting skills.”

John gave him a side look, and then said, “She’s pretty strong, that’s for sure. Do you ever get any sore losers, here? You know, where they get so upset they try and settle things outside of the ring?”

Huh. Now that was a good question.

Rodney thought about it for a moment and then answered, “No, not really. Luckily, most of our contenders know better than to try and approach us outside of the gym.”

“Have any repeat visitors?”

“Oh, not really. We’re still pretty far removed from the rest of the world, here in the Atlantis region. But we do have one guy,” he said. “His name’s Andrew Black, and he likes to come by with his Grovyle and Flareon, get some regular training in. He’s had his Grovyle for…three years? At least.”

John nodded and then turned and headed for the outside, and Rodney decided to follow, and he continued the conversation by talking some more about the trainer.

“Black’s a nice enough fellow, though quite a bit taller than most trainers. He likes to advance his pokémon as much as he can in each stage before he even _thinks_ about evolving them. Can’t fault his methods,” Rodney said, keeping pace next to John’s long stride, “But sometimes I wonder if he just prefers them in certain forms to others. He seems remarkably emotionally attached to his Grovyle.”

John looked out over towards the mountains, squinted, and then said, “You say you’ve never been defeated, right?”

Rodney wondered why he’d suddenly changed the subject, but nodded and answered, “That’s right. Why?”

The other man then turned to him and gave him a smug grin as he absently scratched along Sasha’s scales and arched an eyebrow and said, “I wanna extend a challenge. To you.” Rodney widened his eyes. “You versus me, best of three. See if I can’t break your streak,” he finished, his grin turning into a smirk, while Rodney continued to gape at him.

“You…you…are you serious?” he managed to get out.

John shot him a look. Okay, so, yeah. He was serious. Well, if he wanted a battle, then he’d _give_ him one.

“What the hell,” Rodney finally said, reaching out with his free hand to shake John’s hand and make it formalized. “If you want to get properly humiliated, then all you have to do is pick the time and the place, and I’ll be there. Not that it will take very long.”

Sheppard rolled his eyes at him.

“Yes, it will. Trust me.”

\--

It was three days later, and Rodney was outside in the only outside battling arena in the Atlantis region. Sasha was already out of her pokéball, and he had Scylla and Ulna in their pokéballs, ready to go. He would use Sasha to make John think that he was using his strongest pokémon first, even though she wasn’t really Rodney’s secret weapon.

John obviously thought that he had the advantage because he’d seen all of his pokémon and had figured out a strategy against him. He had no idea what he was up against.

Evan stood off to the side, and Rodney could swear that his friend gave John a reassuring smile, as if knowing something about the man that Rodney didn’t. Sure, Lorne had trained under Sheppard, but after all the research Rodney had done over the past couple of days, checking up on the man’s battling style and technique, he was certain that he had the upper hand. He was undefeated…and it was going to stay that way, no matter what it took.

“Okay, here are the rules.” Lorne’s voice rang out over the field. “You each get three pokémon. You fight until either your opponent’s pokémon is disabled and is unable to continue, or if one of you forfeits one of the matches to the other.”

Rodney snorted. Like _that_ would ever happen. Evan shot him a glare.

“I will judge whether or not a pokémon is fit to continue to battle, you two will not, unless it is obvious that they cannot continue. Is that clear?” They both nodded. “Good. Now, pick your pokémon for the first round!”

Rodney gestured with a flick of his wrist.

“I choose my Sandslash, Sasha.” She clawed at the ground and let out a low growl and Rodney grinned. Good girl.

John gave the two of them a look and said, “I choose my Pidgeot, Paul,” and let out a whistle, and the bird suddenly broke through the trees on the far side of the battlefield and landed with a heavy thud right next to him, no pokéball in sight. “Don’t let me down, big guy,” he said, running his hand over the crest on his head.

Rodney glanced down at Sasha, knowing that John was feeling smug because normally ground types had no effect on flying types. He didn’t know what he’d just walked into.

“Ready, girl?” She chirped. “Good.”

They both glanced at Lorne. He raised his hand high in the air…and then dropped it and yelled, “Begin!”

Immediately, John shouted, “Altitude, now!” and his Pidgeot took off into the sky, looking for all the world untouchable, and Rodney _knew_ that he was about to use a hurricane attack, so he simply whistled once and clicked twice with his tongue and let out another whistle, and Sasha immediately hit the ground at a run, starting her earthquake attack, which, of course, he could see John roll his eyes at…but then felt a twinge of satisfaction when John’s eyes widened at seeing what Sasha was doing.

With her earthquake attack, instead of causing the ground to fall in, she was drawing the rocks _upwards_ and then was leaping from each one to the next, and right as she hit the top of the last one, which was ten feet high, Rodney yelled, “Roll and iron claw!”

Just as she was about to land a hit, John countered with, “Air slash!” and his Pidgeot dodged out of the way _just_ in time, and managed to dive down and use the move to cut down the small rock mountains that Sasha had brought up, but instead of landing in a heap at her footing being removed from under her, she easily curled up into a ball in the air as she fell, rolled when she hit and then came back up to her hind legs flawlessly, suddenly directly in front of her opponent, and Rodney gave two sharp whistles, and she used metal claw and Paul let out a cry, suddenly pinned to the ground with her left claw through his left wing.

Rodney smirked as he then commanded, “Rock tomb,” and suddenly John’s Pidgeot was entombed with rocks on all sides and from above as well.

Normally it was a move that couldn’t be used on a flying type, but Rodney had taught her to not only listen to her instincts, but to also use them to pull her opponents down to her level. She’d handled Charizards before, a Pidgeot was nothing to her.

John’s eyes narrowed and then he yelled, “Steel wing!” and suddenly the rocks burst open, though he didn’t take off, as his wing was still injured, so Rodney quickly took advantage and clicked once with his tongue and whistled twice, and she slung up her mudshot move, the Pidgeot’s wings now covered in sludge, making it even more impossible for it to take off.

His Pidgeot almost looked scared, even though it was much bigger than Rodney’s Sandslash.

John looked baffled at having his pokémon stuck on the ground, but before Rodney could give his next command, he said, “I forfeit this round,” and Rodney was baffled as Paul waddled over to John and he lovingly ran a hand over his mud covered feathers and said to him, “Hey, you did good. I just wasn’t expecting that, okay, buddy?”

The large bird chirruped and then rubbed his head against John’s shoulder. “Can you wait ‘til I’m done with the rest?” The bird nodded. “Okay, then. You go over to the river and clean up and rest, okay?” The Pidgeot did as John asked and wandered over to the river, and then John turned back to the battle.

Evan nodded.

“Round one goes to Rodney, through forfeit. John, please pick your next pokémon.”

The man nodded right back at him.

“I choose Talonflame,” he said, glaring at Rodney, and he then pulled out a whistle that had been hidden under the edge of his black t-shirt and blew it twice, and then waited a few seconds and then the bird appeared over the tops of the trees and circled once before landing gracefully on John’s left, roughly nudging his shoulder with his beak. John chuckled and patted him on the large, yellow and black beak and said, “Hey, Theo. Ready for a battle?” He cawed once, sharply. “Good enough for me.”

Lorne looked back at Rodney and asked, “Do you wish to change for this battle?”, and then seemed slightly surprised when Rodney nodded.

He reached into his jacket pocket, recalled Sasha, and then pulled out another one and said, “I choose Scylla,” and in a burst of green and yellow light, she appeared, balancing on one leg, wings fluttering behind her, helping her balance, already in fighting stance, and Rodney felt a small surge of pride. He’d trained her not to waste her energy flying unless she absolutely had to.

John arched an eyebrow at him for his choice but said nothing.

Evan looked between the two of them, raised his hand…and then dropped it and said, “Round two!”

Rodney decided to get in his attack first, and yelled, “Fury cutter!” and she immediately took to the air and sprung forward with her extreme speed and went straight for Talonflame’s wings, and landed a solid hit, but Theo took the impact and then cast a glance back towards his trainer, John, and he smirked and commanded, “Flare blitz and steel wing,” and Rodney was taken aback when his Talonflame pivoted sharply and shot out a burst of flame directly at Scylla, while immediately wrapping his wings around himself, so that he took none of the rebounding damage.

Scylla let out a cry and was knocked back several feet…but Rodney let out a sigh of relief as she got back up, mostly unharmed, mildly impressed at how John had taught Theo to combine moves to minimize damage; not an easy feat for someone who didn’t actually _own_ his own pokémon.

Rodney silently assessed for a second, and then clicked three times with his tongue and whistled once.

Immediately, Scylla sent an air slash hurtling towards Theo, and clipped the top of his wing and the bird let out a loud, piercing cry as it hit him and knocked him back a few feet, and then John shouted, “Theo, tailwind and quick attack!” and the pokémon suddenly shot up to exactly a foot above the ground and dove across the field head first at nearly three times its normal speed, and Rodney had just the presence of mind to say, “Scylla, dodge, return, and fury cutter!”

She pirouetted out of the line of fire just in time to execute the return move, and then shot forward with her own quick attack, but only just managed to get a blow at Theo’s right side with her fury cutter.

Damn. John’s Talonflame was _fast._

Scylla came back to her starting position, claws out in front, balancing on the one leg, and Rodney thought about his next move while John’s pokémon fell back to his side, plucking at the few feathers that had been shaken loose, pulling them out with a few sharp twists of its beak. Theo then lifted his eyes and glared at Scylla, and Rodney swallowed.

John then growled out, sounding more confident than before, “Theo…brave bird,” and Rodney tried to react quickly with, “Scylla, dodge and aerial ace!” but it was too late, and John’s Talonflame took out Scylla in one blow, knocking her to her back and Rodney knew, without Evan having to say a word, that the second round was over.

“Scylla, return,” he said softly, and in a soft glow of light, she was back in her pokéball.

Evan gave him a look.

“This will be your last choice, McKay,” and he nodded, knowing what was happening next.

Rodney looked back over at John…and then brought out his last pokéball and said, “Ulna, I choose you,” and she came out and landed delicately in front of him on all four paws. John arched an eyebrow at his choice, but said nothing, and smiled, as if he was pleased with his choice.

Without hesitation, Rodney said, “Ulna, use snarl,” and she adjusted her stance and attacked, her speed practically unmatched as she shot across the open field, even though blind, knowing exactly where her opponent was, using her secret psychic link to her master and using his eyes for her own. She landed a solid blow, and Theo was suddenly on his side on the ground, and John seemed to realize that Rodney was going to try and ground him, like he had with his Pidgeot, and shouted, “Theo, altitude!”

He immediately took off.

“Ulna, listen!” Rodney yelled, and she sat down and went completely still. It was a command that was unique just to her, and she closed her eyes and tilted her head.

She didn’t always use her psychic powers to mind link with Rodney because it actually wore her down if she did it constantly, so they’d developed this command so that she could pinpoint where her opponent was. It didn’t matter if they were on the ground or above it, she could find them.

John looked baffled, but then said to his pokémon, “Theo, flame charge!”

His Talonflame then dropped down fast and quick, forcing Rodney to click once, whistle once, and click twice, and Ulna deftly dodged out of the way, avoiding the flames, and then leapt lightly onto Theo’s back, and then Rodney said, “Ulna, dark pulse!”

She dropped her head and body and let out a large pulse of dark energy just as John’s Talonflame tried to take to the air, and it crippled him, causing him to crash right back down and Rodney couldn’t help but smirk in smug satisfaction at seeing how well she was taking him on. Theo weakened, she jumped from his back and landed on the grass directly in front of him and then, without any prompting from Rodney, hit him with a bite attack, landing a solid hit onto his left shoulder, practically hobbling his wing.

Theo now grounded, Rodney looked over at John and saw him reassessing the battlefield and his situation. This was what Rodney liked to do. Force the opponent to his level and then use it to his advantage and his opponent’s disadvantage. It was what made him so damn good.

John looked nervous, and then said, “Theo, use agility,” and the large Talonflame immediately started to dodge and avoid each of the attacks that Ulna tried to land, but then moved a bit too slow and she landed a fierce take down move…and Theo didn’t move.

John swallowed and looked up at Rodney…and then walked onto the field and gently ran his fingers over his head and wings, and said, “You did good, Theo.” He looked up towards the river and called out Paul’s name and the Pidgeot emerged from the river, shaking off his wings and came over and helped Theo over to the river, as well. Again, Evan didn’t have to call the second match. They were now two for two, and John had one last choice.

Rodney wondered who he would pick, certain he’d pick another flying type.

So, he was genuinely surprised when John pulled out his whistle and clipped out right after he whistled, “Mattie,” and his Mightyena stalked onto the field about a minute later, tail swishing and head held high. He was fighting with his Mightyena?

Evan looked between the two of him, raised his hand and said, “Last round…Fight!”

Rodney was thrilled when Ulna knew exactly where she needed to dodge when John yelled out, “Tackle!”, and she ducked under the attack with the pure speed and grace that only a feline had. She then sprung up to her feet, pivoted, and Rodney whistled twice, and he felt the tingle on the back of his neck that let him know that she was seeing through his eyes and saw exactly where Mightyena was about to jump forward to try and use bite. She instead leaned back and then leaped up and threw out a shadow ball that hit with perfect accuracy.

It hit John’s Mightyena with a solid blow, but the beast shook it off and when John shouted out, “Payback!” Rodney knew he was in trouble.

Luckily, Ulna was still seeing through his eyes and was using her advanced hearing, as well, and managed to slide out of the way _just_ in time with her fast reflexes, avoiding the sheer power that was her own shadow ball but with twice the amount of force. For once, Rodney was up against an opponent who was meeting him on his territory. John was an adaptable trainer, like Rodney, and so he’d pulled out a dark type pokémon with which he could match Rodney’s Umbreon.

As soon as Ulna was out of range of the Mightyena’s paws, she twitched an ear back in Rodney’s direction, and he made a fast decision: he had to attack fast and quick, no more defense.

He let out a sharp click, a whistle, and then two more clicks.

Immediately, she jumped straight into the air and curled up to trigger her focused energy and then shot out a devastatingly strong dark pulse, that slammed John’s Mightyena to the ground, hard and fast, and then she flipped in the air, landed directly in front of him, and then swung around and hit him with tail whip.

Mattie let out a low groan and slumped even further against the ground, and Rodney saw John look worried, biting his lip.

But then Mattie rose back up and shook all over and re-braced himself against the ground, growling low in the back of his throat. Rodney was impressed, as most pokémon buckled under that attack from Ulna, but he managed to get back to his feet. Finally, a decent challenge.

And then he let out a roar and Ulna was pushed back a solid four feet from the blast. It was obviously his howl attack. Rodney quickly countered with clicking three times and a whistle, and Ulna responded with using copycat, and now there were four of her standing in front of her opponent, and he could tell that the technique was causing it some confusion, but then John shouted out, “Use odor sleuth, Mattie!” and his pokémon twitched his nose and immediately knew which one was the real Umbreon, and he lunged forward to use a bite attack.

It took Rodney off guard, so he quickly whistled and then clicked twice, and Ulna slipped past the Mightyena’s attack, and was underneath its massive girth and then let out another dark pulse, followed quickly by her takedown move, and then Mightyena was on his back, knocked out cold.

Rodney let out a sigh of relief, and looked over at Evan.

He glanced over at Mattie and at Ulna…and then said, “And the battle goes to Ulna. The winner of this match is McKay!”

Thank god. He was still undefeated.

He moved his gaze over to John, who gave him an odd look, and then Rodney quickly said, “Good match, Sheppard,” trying to tell him that he was actually impressed, and John nodded back at him and then walked over and helped his Mightyena to his paws and he replied, “Great match, McKay,” and then wandered over to take a close look at the rest of his pokémon.

Ulna trotted over to Rodney, practically purring as she rubbed up against his leg, and he patted her on the head, scratching her behind the ears, and softly murmured under his breath, “Good job, sweetheart, good job,” and then quickly returned her to her pokéball.

He thought about heading back to the apartment…but then, at the last second, walked over to the river and, as soon as he was close enough, he said, “Hey, uh…want some help?”

John nodded.

“Sure, why not. Here,” he pulled something out of a pack. “If you could rub this into Mattie’s back, that would help a lot.”

Rodney nodded back and took the container and unscrewed the cap, and then was startled when Mattie approached him and practically crawled into his lap. John chuckled and gave him a sideways look and remarked, “Even in defeat, Mattie likes you. That’s one of the perks of the dog types,” he added with a smirk.

Rodney just shook his head and rubbed the cream into the Mightyena’s back and Mattie let out a soft woof and slumped even further into his lap.

“So,” said John conversationally, “How come your Umbreon was able to see so well even while she was blind?”

Rodney smiled and decided it wouldn’t hurt to tell him his secret, as John was the only opponent that he’d had in over ten years that had even come close to giving him a decent challenge. He rubbed some more of the cream into Mattie’s back, and then said, “She’s part psychic, and so uses her ability to lock into my mind and share my sight.”

John’s eyes widened and his hand stilled from where it was rubbing a salve of some kind into his Talonflame’s wings.

He then swallowed and said, “Are you serious? She can…she can _do_ that?”

Rodney nodded. “Yep. Not a lot of people know about that particular ability, and not every trainer can use it. Hell, most of them can’t,” he explained, massaging the cream deeper into Mightyena’s shoulders. “It requires a certain amount of trust between the Umbreon and its trainer, and some scientists theorize that a specific genetic quirk is involved. I got lucky,” he softly admitted, his hand stilling in its movement. “After she evolved, her trainer decided she was useless and simply gave her to me. That was a few years ago. When I first got her, she was terrified but warmed up to Juno pretty quickly, so I had custom pokéball made, so they share one.”

John smiled at that and remarked, “Okay, now that’s kinda sweet,” and Rodney shrugged and said, “Eh, it’s the least I could do for her in the beginning. After that, she started to trust me more and more and then, one day, we’re out for a walk and I felt this odd sensation on the back of my neck as I was staring at a tree and then saw Ulna go straight after a piece of fruit that she couldn’t possibly see or sense with her other senses…and then I realized she was seeing it because I was seeing it. No one was more surprised than I was, which is why I’ve never told anyone about it…except for you.”

John gave him another look, and then gently shoved off his Talonflame and said softly to his two bird pokémon, “Hey, guys. You can go on home,” and they both chirped and took off, leaving them alone with Mattie, who was making himself quite comfortable on Rodney’s lap.

John leaned back on his hands and then said, “You used techniques I’ve never seen before. That earthquake attack at the beginning, with your Sandslash? I didn’t even know it was _possible_ to do it in reverse,” he drawled. “Also, I know that if I hadn’t forfeited that first match, you would have easily taken it. I just didn’t want to risk it with Theo,” he explained.

“I get that,” Rodney said, trying to subtly push Mattie off his legs, but he let out a low growl and just burrowed further into him, and John chuckled.

“Looks like you really do have a way with the animals, don’t you McKay,” he quipped, and he rolled his eyes and mocked back at him, “Oh, ha ha, very funny. It’s not my fault that your pokémon like me more,” he finished with an arched eyebrow in John’s direction.

He thought John would take offense, and so was surprised when he returned his look with a small grin on the corner of his mouth and said, “Well, I can’t fault them for taste…”

Huh. That was almost…wait a second. Had Sheppard just _flirted_ with him?

He gaped for a moment, stopping his stroking of the thick black and gray fur in his lap, and John rolled his eyes at his reaction, slowly getting to his feet and snapping his fingers, causing Mattie to abruptly rise from Rodney’s lap, bounding over to his master’s side. John then looked down at him and put his hand out and said, “Well, are you coming?” and it only took Rodney a second, but he reached up and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet.

He stumbled slightly, falling into John’s shoulder, but the man didn’t seem to mind in the least.

Instead, he just shot him another smile and kept his grip on Rodney’s hand as they walked back to the Atlantis Gym.

The instant they were inside, however, Rodney pulled back, breaking their connection, and couldn’t help but ask, “Okay, so…are you telling me, that after _all_ of that, that, that…battling, and me beating you, and all that shit…you, you, you _like_ me? Like… _like_ me, like me? I mean, how the hell does that work? I mean, I cannot fathom the logic behind this, like, at _all._ ”

John just started laughing, and then managed to get out, “You do realize the only reason why I came to the Atlantis region was to challenge you, right?” and Rodney just stood there, gob smacked, not quite believing what he had just said. John threw him an amused grin and said, “I’ve been tracking you for years, and then when I found out that you’d settled all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, I realized that I needed a way to prove to you that you weren’t the only unconventional trainer out there. That you didn’t have the corner on being the best. Clearly, I underestimated you,” he finished with a wink.

Rodney paused for a moment…and then gained back some equilibrium, enough to say, “Well, obviously you did. I mean, there is a _reason_ why I’m undefeated.”

John rolled his eyes and complained, “Oh, god, I knew it was too good to last. Look, if we’re gonna date, we gotta lay down some ground rules. One,” he raised a finger, “You will get used to giving other people besides yourself compliments. Two--”

“Hold up, dating? What? Where the hell did I say that I would date you?” Rodney exclaimed, and John rolled his eyes a second time.

“If you were only flattered and not interested, you would have said so immediately, McKay, I’m not stupid,” he quipped, and Rodney felt off balance, because Sheppard wasn’t wrong about that. It was strange having someone know him so well after only knowing each other for a day.

He nodded and John continued.

“Two,” he had two fingers raised, “You will accept more challengers in your gym and you will _not_ , I repeat will _not_ make them cry.”

Rodney scoffed and retorted, “Okay, you’d have better luck asking for a fire attack from a Squirtle,” and John tilted his head and acknowledged, “Yeah, you might be right about that one. Okay, then, how about you accept three challengers a month and you at least tell them how they could improve? If they cry, it’s on them,” and Rodney nodded.

“That sounds fair enough.”

John grinned.

“Good.”

He suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips lightly to Rodney’s, and he should have taken offense, and been bothered by the fact that they still barely knew each other, but the instant their lips touched, however brief it was, it felt like he’d known him in another lifetime. He pulled back, but then Rodney grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back in for another kiss, unable to help himself, and felt him grin against his mouth.

When he pulled back, John breathed out against his lips, “You certainly changed your mind fast,” and Rodney shrugged.

“You gave me a compelling argument.”

John grinned.

“So, you don’t mind having another Master Trainer on at your gym, now do you?” he asked, his brow furrowing slightly, as if unsure, and Rodney scoffed, “Are you kidding? Someone else to help deal with all of the up and coming trainers who think they’re going to be the next pokémon master? Hell yes, you are _officially_ on the staff!”

John chuckled and said, “At least one of us is excited about it,” and Rodney quickly said, “You can’t back out of it, now. You’re dating me, right? You’re now _stuck_ with me.”

The other man smiled and grabbed his hand again and they made their way down the hall back to Rodney’s apartment, and as soon as they were inside, Rodney let all of his pokémon back out, and they happily wandered to their usual spots out in the back section of the property. He found Ari just at the edge of the linai, playing in the grass, Sasha already right next to her, keeping her company, and Rodney reached down and picked his Abra up and she nuzzled into his shoulder and let out a small chirping sound and John gave him a look.

“God, you’re adorable with her,” he said, and Rodney felt his face burning.

“Yeah, well…she’s a sweetheart,” he replied, and they both settled on the outdoor couch. He let out a soft sigh as John pulled him into his arms, so that both he and Ari were nestled between his outstretched legs and his chest, and it felt…right.

He wasn’t sure how long they stayed there, but the longer he laid in John’s arms, with Ari in his own, the more he realized that this was what had been missing from his life.

Thank god, John had decided to come and find him.


	2. Fan Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fan Art of the previous chapter, for reference.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a chapter, but my art based on the descriptions I gave of Rodney's pokemon in the previous story.

ASTER - missing and blanched scales

CHAOS - acid burns down his neck and stomach

DAGON - missing head wings

GYARADOS - trident scars down sides and over face

HADES - missing most of right horn

JUNO - scar through left eye and mouth, missing chunk of tail

ORION - mined sides, revealing geode insides

PERSEPHONE - lightning scars on side, burnt and mangled ear and jaw

SASHA - mangled right claw, burnt scales, white scarring on sides

SCYLLA - missing right leg

ULNA - blind from evolution


End file.
